I’d like to see this confirmed elsewhere, though I’m probably misunderstanding the terminology at use here. To me this would imply the backlog of preorders would be clear and stock would be in place so that new orders shipped out “immediately” (10 days or less).
What Im going to assume is that this means stock of new phones (perhaps USA made variants) increases, while the bcklog queue see’s a ramp up of orders being delivered.
I’ll be looking forward to seeing how https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/#availability changes this month with that in mind.
Weaver said Purism is about two weeks away from actually holding stock and selling phones, which isn’t something the company, which began with crowdfunding, has previously had to do. In the past, people have pledged funds with orders, and it has later fulfilled them; now it’s building inventory in anticipation of sales.
“We’re actually transitioning to holding stock and pushing sales,” he explained. “We’ve never had to do that before. We’ve never had to do outbound sales.”
Yeah, I dunno how they can be holding stock with such a huge backlog.
Re “Weaver said,” I wonder if the author might have conflated Todd’s mentions of “holding stock” and “selling phones” as a direct correlation, whereas Todd might have meant holding stock of products in general as the new focus, and that that’s intended for the phones as well (as soon as possible). And there is the direct quote: “We’re actually transitioning to holding stock…”
So I still think of it as a process at present. Absent further official news, we’ll have to wait and see, I guess.
I don’t like this statement. The modularity and possibility to remove the modem and WiFi cards are one of the most unique and cool features of Librem 5.
And I don’t care about the thickness. Actually the current thickness has not been used completely. I don’t know why one needs the cover of the modem and WiFi cards. There is the top cover anyways. So that the modem could have even been thicker.
I also see some benefit in using the same components over the portfolio. Why not use the same Modems and WiFi cards in Librem 5, Librem 14 and Librem Mini.
Weaver also said some thought is being given to the possibility of soldering the currently modular modem in place, which would allow for thinner devices and would please government agencies that see a removable component as a security issue.
That’s a good point and seems like a reasonable (though frustrating) explanation!
Though all products are marked as " in stock" with the exception of the Librem5, Im sure people interested in buying any of Purisms products will be happy with more stock on hand.
I wouldn’t say no to a thinner device, but it’s the weight that I find more annoying. If a later version does get a soldered-in modem, I would hope that it has more international compatibility than the current ones, though.
Weight, thickness. Yes true that we are used to thinner and lighter hand held devices. But these are luxury problems.
If mobile Linux was on par with iOS or Android in terms of for example having working native all common messanger apps and having working front camera for video calls in all such apps, than this would already be much more important to make a shift from iOS and Android to Librem 5.
Honestly I still have friends that are only available on WhatsApp. I still have friends that are only available on Viber.
If all auch stuff was working, I could accept the weight and size much easier.
(I know that with proprietary apps there are factors out of control of Purism).
On the other hand, the L5 is probably the smallest and lightest full pocket computer around. 
Actually I have raised this topic several times.
Apparently in the USA you still need real phone with phone number, SMS and MMS. But for me in Europe, the modem is more like a way to access the Internet.
The video communication over the Internet is the supperior type of communication. You have video. You have encryption and it has no added costs for international calls (and in Europe we have a lot of separate countries on small area and there are still charges for international calls).
So yes, it is a hand held computer in first place. And the phone functionality is like a backward compatibility.
That’s exactly what’s going to happen soon, but only for L5USA, as it has a separate queue that’s very close to being fully cleared now. Regular L5 is produced in much higher quantities, but it also has a much longer queue and it will still take some time to clear it up.
“We’re actually going to be adding to PureOS Store, which is equivalent to Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store, where we allow for people to charge a subscription or charge for an app,” said Weaver
Developers will be able to “charge for an app” that is Free software? How? Does the PureOS store allow proprietary apps?
I think that Pure OS already is violate Free Software rules by including the Firefox, as far i know the icon of firefox it not free. : (
If Purism permit propietary code into PureOS i just left of Purism and i not support anymore Purism.
Just because it’s paid for doesn’t mean it’s proprietary. Some people can’t build or don’t want to build software and are willing to pay a little bit to not have to. Nothing wrong with that.
Whether or not it’s “financially viable” is out of scope.
No. Paid or not, it must be Free Software.
Incentivizing FLOSS software development through the Purism Store is a great idea. But I followed the “Interledger” link in the Register article and found reference to DIE (diversity, inclusion, “equity”). That is an anti-liberty, anti-individual death cult.
I am a HUGE Purism fan, but if they get infected with that plague, I’ll sell the L5 (when I get it) and keep my Pinephone (in spite of its faults).
Agreed!
Could you expand on this?
I have not seen that “interledger” thing before, but now that I read about it at https://interledger.org/our-work/ there is this:
We are creating a single open global payment network that connects everyone. Interledger provides an open, frictionless, and currency-agnostic method for transferring very small amounts of money, typically referred to as micropayments. This open network allows anyone to transfer money across currencies and ledgers, resulting in the potential rebalancing of our global payment systems.
For me, that sounds pretty much like Monero. You don’t like it?
I’m totally on board with frictionless micropayments and cross-currency transfers… but not DIE, or ESG (its close cousin). If that’s what Interledger brings to the table, then Purism might be better off with Monero or some other cryptocurrency. I haven’t done the DIE/ESG research on Monero yet (I don’t have any), but some cryptos are infected.
There was talk of Monero back in 2018:
“Purism CEO Todd Weaver. Monero on the Librem 5!”" https://www.monerotalk.live/purism-todd-weaver-monero-on-the-librem5
I thought it made sense, Monero folks should appreciate a Librem 5 to keep their wallet on. But it seems they did not understand the point, I think they just keep using Android/iOS with some separate “hardware wallet” on the side.
People don’t be that radical.
Librem 5 is at the end giving you control to install or not install anything you like and potentially to feed apps with mock data.
If we would not have closed source applications, we would not be where we are as money have motivated the huge growth in IT in the last 30 years. Many FOSS developers have become software developers thanks to companies producing closed source software who created jobs, created demand for software developers, trained software developers on the job. And now some of these trained software developers spend some of their time contributing to FOSS while providing for their families with developing closed source software.
Without the existence of the closed source industry, we would not have FOSS at this level either.
So don’t be fanatics. Everybody is free to decide what to install and what to not install.
Statements like “I will dump Purism if Purism makes it easy to install Firefox (a browser that many or even most users consciously want!!!)” resembles to me religious fanaticism. It is not that far away from FOSS inquisition or FOSS jihad.
Linux has to be convenient to use in order to be usable for more people and to become popular. And some closed source apps are just convenient. Also I think in some cases people can start with a convenient proprietary app and later on look for an open source alternative. So it is a step by step transition.
I think it makes sense to have 2 app stores. One completely FOSS and one that has proprietary software. So that the user is in power.